Don Durgin, a former president of NBC Television who led the network’s expansion of programming in the late 1960s, died Friday in New York. He was 79.
The suspected cause was a brain aneurysm, said his wife, Catherine Meacham Durgin.
Mr. Durgin worked for the National Broadcasting Co. from 1957 to 1975. He became president of NBC Television in 1965 and was named executive vice president of NBC in 1973.
During his tenure, the network expanded its production of original dramas, news and cultural specials, and variety shows featuring celebrities such as Bob Hope and Bill Cosby. He also promoted the broadcast of motion pictures on the small screen.
Mr. Durgin, who graduated from Princeton University in 1945, spent his career in the media industry. After serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II, he started at the advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding. He worked briefly at NBC starting in 1949, and then headed the radio division of the American Broadcasting Co. from 1951 to 1957, before he rejoined NBC.
